Statewide filings up 2 percent from March; up 16 percent from year ago

Monthly foreclosure activity in Colorado rose in April, up 2 percent from the previous month to 6,382 properties with foreclosure filings. This latest state total also represents a 16 percent year-over-year increase in foreclosure filings from April 2009, according to the latest RealtyTrac® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

“Foreclosure activity in Colorado inched up in April to a level slightly higher than in March and significantly ahead of this time last year,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “With unemployment levels the highest experienced by the state since the 1980s, Colorado has remained among the worst affected areas in the nation for more than a year now.”

Colorado ranked 12th in the nation in total foreclosure activity for the month. The state had the 10th highest state foreclosure rate in the nation with one in 337 Colorado housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.

DouglasCounty posted leading foreclosure rate in the state for April

With one in every 160 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 2.4 times the national average and 2.1 times the state average — Douglas County posted the highest county foreclosure rate in the state for the month. Weld County came in second, with one in every 202 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 1.9 times the national average and 1.7 times the state average. Adams County was third, with one in every 214 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 1.8 times the national average and 1.6 times the state average.

El PasoCounty tops in total foreclosure activity for April

El PasoCounty led all counties in the state, reporting 789 properties with foreclosure filings for the month. Adams County was second highest, documenting 767 properties with foreclosure filings. Closely behind was third place DenverCounty reporting 764 properties with foreclosure filings. JeffersonCounty was fourth highest, reporting 751 properties with foreclosure filings. A total of 734 properties with foreclosure filings were reported in Arapahoe County, the fifth highest county total in April.

State a modest contributor to nation’s month foreclosure total

Colorado accounted for 2 percent of the 333,837 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide in April. Total U.S. activity declined more than 9 percent from the previous month and was 2 percent below the level reported in April 2009. One in every 387 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month — broken out by type of filing by state, county and metropolitan statistical area. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default—Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction— Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is received for a property during the month, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

About RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac® is the leading provider of comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries, Federal, state and local governments, academic institutions, and the media. Data is aggregated from parcel-level records of more than 125 million U.S. residential and commercial properties and delivered through customizable products including bulk file licensing, APIs and custom reports.